Man charged with OWI and fleeing police sentenced, gets probation
Keith Norrington
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man accused of driving drunk and fleeing police in Oak Creek reached a plea deal with prosecutors in court on Thursday, June 27.
33-year-old Keith Norrington was charged with OWI 2nd offense, and Fleeing/Eluding an Officer.
In court, Norrington changed his plea to guilty for the Fleeing/Eluding an Officer charge, which is a felony. The OWI charge, a misdemeanor, was dismissed outright.
Man accused of driving drunk, fleeing Oak Creek police, pleads not guilty
Keith Norrington pleaded not guilty on Monday, March 28 – accused of driving drunk and fleeing from police during a traffic stop in Oak Creek in January.
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Norrington was sentenced to nine months in the House of Correction with credit for five days' time served. The court granted Huber privileges for work.
The court then stayed that sentence and placed Norrington on probation for one year. If he violates any terms of the probation, he will have to serve the sentence.
Case details
According to the criminal complaint, Oak Creek police officers were alerted on Saturday, Jan. 22 to a subject who was unconscious in a red vehicle parked in the Drexel Town Square area. When they approached the vehicle, they "observed a single occupant in the driver's seat, who was hunched over and appeared to be 'passed out,'" the complaint says. The officers also spotted an open bottle of liquor in the car.
The complaint says the officers started knocking on the windows of the red vehicle --and after about 45 seconds, the driver sat up. The driver lowered his window "in an apparent attempt to show he had been using or looking at his phone." When asked to show a form of identification, the complaint says the driver "appeared to have difficulty finding his wallet." Eventually, the driver found his license -- and provided it to officers. The driver was identified as Norrington -- and officers "learned the defendant's license was suspended," the complaint says.
Officers noted Norrington "had red and glassy eyes, slurred and mumbled speech, and poor motor functions. The defendant denied drinking or consuming drugs and said the open bottle in the Audi was for someone else." The complaint says officers feared the defendant would attempt to drive away -- and arranged to have stop sticks placed behind the car's rear tires.
The complaint says officers asked the defendant to exit his vehicle approximately seven times, but the defendant did not comply. At one point, the complaint says the defendant started the car and "said he did so to keep himself warm." But moments later, when one of the officers reached inside the partially opened window to open the driver's door from the inside, the defendant grabbed the officer's hand. The officer was able to open the door but "the defendant held the door handle and attempted to close the door on the officers."
Officers then attempted to remove the defendant from the vehicle, he "revved the car's engine," and eventually "put the Audi in reverse and accelerated rapidly backwards," the complaint says. That movement caused an officer to be thrown onto the pavement -- before the defendant drove away from the officers "without his headlights illuminated."
According to the complaint, a pursuit began -- and approximately five miles later, the pursuit ended. Officers with the Milwaukee Police Department later found the Audi near 4th and Michigan outside an apartment building. Officers located the defendant in one of those apartments and took him into custody.